It has been a hectic year with the Coronavirus Pandemic forcing the closure of borders and lockdown in our towns and cities.

This led to the deferment of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, abandonment of the HSBC World Sevens Series and many more international sports.

Also, for the first time many top games were played in empty stadiums later it was moved to 50 percent capacity.

Here at home there were no Coca- Cola Games and Vodafone Deans Trophy competition.

But actually it was not that gloomy with the start of the newly revamped Skipper Cup rugby competition and football’s Vodafone Premier League.

This brought a sign of returning to normality for many Fijians as they went out in big numbers to support their teams ( bearing in mind the fact that organisers had to struggle to keep it at the 50 percent capacity).

The competitiveness of sports being played in the country saw the rise of many young talented players and after a long time there had been a lot of hype surrounding these competitions.

We take a look at how we rate (Top 5) our sportspeople in 2020.

MALE ATHLETES:

• Jerry Tuwai- Newly crowned World Rugby Sevens Player of the Decade. He is the WR Sevens Player of the Year for the past two years and our Olympian who is gunning for his second gold medal.

  This year he formed his 7s club- FDS Barbarian Brothers. He roped in young players who have got no club to play in during the local tournaments

  They have reached the Cup semifinals of the Fiji Bitter sponsored Marist and Savusavu tournaments. But took out the Wairiki 7s title in Taveuni early this month.

Jerry Tuwai of Fiji Airways 7’s side during training at Albert Park on November 19, 2019. Photo: Ronald Kumar.

• Roy Krishna- Our top football striker is again hitting the headlines in the Indian Super League.

  He captained ATK to win the ISL last season now with the club being merged and known as ATK Mohun Bagan, Roy has scored four goals from the five matches he has played.

  Roy has weathered the storm of travelling 40 days from Labasa to Kolkata. Being quarantined in three different countries and undergone 10 coronavirus tests.

• Semi Radradra– Unofficially named as the world’s best rugby player. Made a lot of headlines when he moved to Bristol Bears in England.

  Named as the Flying Fijians new captain during the Autumn Nations Cup.

  

• Nemani Nadolo– Returned to international rugby from semi-retirement. The burly Fijian winger scored three tries in the 38-24 win over Georgia in the the Autumn Nations Cup.Playing for Leicester Tigers, Nadolo stood up for Fiji Rugby to brush aside all the wild allegations by Bears coach Pat Lam on Radradra’s injury.

• James ‘The Beast’ Singh- First boxer of Indian descent to hold the Fijian heavyweight title. This was once the country’s prestigious boxing title, which had been passed around by our greats like Leweni Waqa, Filimoni Naliva, Sunia Cama, Niko Degei, Luke Tui, Frank Atu and Mosese Kavika.
  

FEMALE ATHLETES:

• Sesenieli Donu- She captained the Lautoka Women’s side to win the Skipper Cup competition. The elusive second five- eighth scored crucial tries in the Maroons campaign and a starter for the Fijians XVs at the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

• Tokasa Seniyasi– Our find in the HSBC Sevens Series. She captained the Fijiana 7s team during the Sydney 7s. Seniyasi has been dubbed as our women’s answer to Jerry Tuwai. She is our trump card to the Tokyo Olympics in Japan.

• Episaki Kahatoka- The Fijian Pearls captain and Goalkeeper led the Digicel Lightning to win the first Netball Fiji Super League comp.

• Koleta Likuculacula- Always leads by example. She captained Ba Women’s football to retain the Vodafone Women’s IDC title. Likuculacula scored Ba’s goals as they beat Labasa 2-1 in the final.

• Matila Vocea- A promising goalshooter. She has the built for any sort of physicality but it is her goal shooting accuracy and ability to read the game to put her markers on the wrong foot that sets her apart. Cool under pressure but give her time to gain that much-needed experience.

 TOP DISTRICTS TEAMS

• Suva FC: The Capital City won the Vodafone Premier League, Vodafone Fiji FACT and retained the Vodafone Futsal IDC
• Suva Rugby : Took out the Skipper Cup title for the third year in a row.
• Nadi Rugby: Despite a slow start in the Skipper Cup they went on to win the Farebrother-Sullivan Trophy.
• Namosi Rugby: Dethroned Nadroga the Farebrother- Sullivan Trophy and successfully defended it four times before losing it 22-21 to Nadi.
• Labasa FC: For retaining the Courts Interdistrict Championship title. First time for the Babasiga Lions to win the IDC two years in a row.

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